Association Publications

One of the primary goals of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History is to promote networking among its members for the exchange of ideas, news and information on maritime history collections, exhibitions, research, and publishing. To that end, the Association publishes the quarterly Association for Great Lakes Maritime History Newsletter. With each issue, there is a Museum Alert supplement containing additional items of interest to museum managers, development staff and educators. Samples of both publications are available in PDF format by clicking the following links:

Note: It may take a some time for the newsletter/journal to download and open in Adobe Reader. If you do not have access to Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer, click here to download it.

Association Publication Subsidy Program

The purpose of the publishing subsidy program is to promote research and publication by providing institutional and individual members of the Association with an incentive and financial assistance in their efforts in that field, and to provide an equitable non-competitive process for awarding subsidies to assist in defraying actual publishing (e.g., printing, image reproduction, etc.) and distribution costs. Both self-published and commercially-published research results are eligible for subsidies.

Member Responsibilities:

§ An Association member may, at any time, submit to the chair of the Research and Publication Committee, or to the program administrator, a work proposed for a publication which has been judged worthy and appropriate by that member.

§ The nominating member must provide the program administrator with three ready-for-press final format copies of the proposed work.

§ Works which have been previously published or otherwise distributed are eligible for consideration so long as the work has been substantially revised and the member receives written assurance from the prior publisher that copyright does not restrict or prevent subsequent publication.

§ If approved for a subsidy, the member is responsible for selecting a publisher, making the necessary arrangements for publication, setting the sales price, marketing and distribution. The program administrator will endeavor to advise the nominating institution or individual on these matters.

§ All subsidized works must prominently display a credit line acknowledging the Association’s financial contribution to the publication.

§ Authors will be eligible for awards only in any two out of four consecutive years, the four years commencing with the initial award year.

Association Responsibilities:

§ The process for approving and granting subsidies is a responsibility of the Research and Publications Committee of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History, and is administered by one of its members.

§ Each work submitted will be read by three readers, with the author(s) made known to them. Readers will have no direct business association with the author(s), and will be anonymous to them. At least two of the three readers must give their approval for a work to receive a publication subsidy. Readers who reject a work should discuss their reasons with the program administrator, but are not expected to discuss the matter with the author(s). Cut-off dates for reviewing may be established.

§ Submissions will be judged on their individual merits, rather than competitively. The role of the Association is to confirm that the submission meets the basic standard of contributing well-presented new information to the general body of Great Lakes maritime history.

§ Once approved, the program administrator will endeavor to advise the member or individual on matters of publication, prices, marketing, and distribution and may suggest publication size, page layout, and format with a view to a possible collected works series.

§ Each approved work will be announced in the Association’s journal/newsletter and on its website as the publication becomes available for purchase.

The Subsidy:

§ Each subsidy will be $500 or 50 percent of the publishing and distribution costs, whichever is the lesser amount.

§ The same amount of subsidy funding will be made available for each approved publication, regardless of length or cost of publishing and distribution.

§ The actual transfer of funds will be made only after the nominating selected institution or individual(s) present a copy of the paid invoice(s) for services from the publisher and other appropriate providers of publication and/or distribution services.

§ The Association’s Board of Directors has approved initial funding of $5,000 for subsidies, and may add to this as it deems appropriate. Each subsidy requires Board of Directors approval.